Research

The PLAN for Broadband Act (S.

A new permanent broadband affordability benefit focused on unconnected households and funded by repurposing the Universal Service Fund's High Cost Programs as they expire can close the digital divide. 

Digital connectivity is becoming more vital in driving economic growth, attracting inward investment, creating jobs and improving outcomes for people and communities. Improving availability and access to improved broadband is important for many of the key sectors within Harlan County and plays a crucial role in attracting inward investment to the area:

An evaluation of a co-equal sharing framework to allow Federal and non-Federal users to deploy systems in the 37.0-37.6 GHz (Lower 37 GHz) band. The scope of this report is limited to sharing between Federal and non-Federal operations. The report assumes that the Federal Communications Commission will establish site-based authorizations for non-Federal licensees, but the report does not attempt to address how the FCC will regulate sharing between and among non-Federal systems.

This annual publication looks at what people in the UK are doing online, how they are served by online content providers and platforms, and their attitudes to and experiences of using the internet. In May 2024, UK adults spent an average of 4 hours 20 minutes a day online, across smartphones, tablets and computers.  Almost half (48%) of the time UK adults spend online is on services owned by Alphabet or Meta. Reddit was the fastest-growing large social media platform in the UK, reaching more than half of UK online adults by June 2024. Eighteen to 24-year-old TikTok and Snapchat visitors spe

Information on racial disparities in Maryland housing and neighborhood conditions, as well as the current and ongoing work of the Department to address inequities. Highlights efforts toward reducing digital redlining in Maryland through statewide investments and the Maryland Digital Equity Plan. A lesser-known consequence of disinvestment, “digital redlining” refers to the underdevelopment of broadband infrastructure in low-income neighborhoods.

In 2023, AT&T announced a 50/50 joint venture with the investment firm BlackRock to form an open-access fiber network company called Gigapower, with AT&T Fiber as the anchor tenant. The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents the majority of AT&T’s frontline workforce, has closely tracked the Gigapower build-out in several markets. This report is the first in a series of market spotlights looking at Gigapower’s deployments nationwide, and finds the following:

Fiber deployment has significant incremental economic benefits even in the presence of other high-speed broadband technologies. The report also argues that because private actors will not capture all the benefits of fiber deployment the marketplace will not deploy enough fiber on its own. Based on these findings we suggest a few policy takeaways:

5G users report higher performance satisfaction than 4G users, but face issues in high-traffic locations, meaning that 4 in 10 users are no longer willing to accept best-effort 5G performance. Further, 35 percent of surveyed 5G users show a growing appetite for elevated connectivity beyond standard 5G performance, signaling a strong willingness to adopt and pay extra for differentiated connectivity. So, what can differentiated connectivity do for them?